The invention disclosed herein pertains to a sign that is suspended in proximity to an overhead ceiling light fixture for obtaining illumination from the fluorescent tubes or other lamps in the fixture which is intended for lighting a room such as a retail store.
The sign disclosed herein is an improvement over a type of sign known to those involved in sign technology as a Light Thief. Such signs are used indoors at the point of sale to attract attention to a product by displaying information and images such as the name of the product, its picture or other characteristics. The images and other information are on transparency sheets or films that can be exchanged. The sign is a parasite because it is illuminated from a ceiling fixture which is intended to light the room but the sign has no light source of its own.
Existing signs of the type hereunder consideration are characterized as a light transmitting plastic sheet bent along a lengthwise line to create two side panels having a cross-section corresponding to the letter V. Translucent V-shaped end panels close the ends of the unitary side panels and are secured to the side panels with push nails or screws to produce a rigid V-shaped sign structure. The flexible information bearing transparencies or films are placed on the inside surfaces of the side or end panels or both to modulate light from the fixture and thereby yield an image that can be visualized on the outside of the panels. Existing signs of this general type have a small torsion spring-biased cable or cord reel mounted to the inside face of each end panel. The free ends of the cords or cables that extend from the respective reels are provided with suitable hardware for hooking onto the ceiling runners or grid members, for example, that have the shape of an inverted T for supporting acoustic ceiling panels. The runners or grid members also provide a frame around the fluorescent tube fixtures. The installer of the sign usually stands on a step ladder with the sign in his or her hands to negotiate hooking the cables onto the ceiling runners for the inside of the sign to be backlighted by light emitted from the fluorescent tubes. Thus, the indicia on the transparencies can be visualized from floor level.
One of the problems with prior ambient light employing signs becomes evident when a sign is to be drawn down on the spring tensioned cords for cleaning the sign and/or exchanging transparencies while the maintenance person is standing on the floor. The problem is that the sign tends to come down out of level. Manipulating it to a level state sometimes results in the spring biased reels becoming unlatched so there is a tendency for the sign to ascend inadvertently under the force of the springs in the reels. The person who wants to exchange the indicia bearing transparencies or clean the sign must hold the sign body so it does not go up and at the same time the person must try to get the transparencies secured and squared up against the inside surfaces of the side or end panels of the sign body. Manufacturers of the existing parasitic light employing signs admonish users to not release the sign while pulling it down or it will spring up and collide with the grid that frames the fluorescent tube fixture. Even worse is the case of the sign body being canted due to one of the cables being more retracted in the reel than the other when an inadvertent upward recoil happens. In such case, one end of the sign will impact the light fixture with all the force concentrated along one point or line.
An objective of the present invention is to provide an ambient light employing sign with means that assure the sign will descend in a level state and stay in a level state free of any manual assistance when it is lowered to the desired level for servicing such as for cleaning the sign or exchanging the transparent films on which are the indicia that are to be displayed.